This surname of ARDLEY was derived from the Old English word 'aeordly', a locational name meaning the dweller by the lea, from residence nearby. Local names derived from a place-name, indicating where the man held land. Early records mention Ailardly (without surname) listed as a tenant in the Domesday Book of 1086. Many of the early names recorded in medieval documents denote noble families but many also indicate migration from the continent during, and in the wake of, the Norman invasion of 1066. There was a constant stream of merchants, workmen and others arriving in England during this time. In 1086 the Record of Great Inquisition of lands of England, their extent, value, ownership and liabilities was made by order of William The Conqueror. It is known as the Domesday book. Over the centuries, most people in Europe have accepted their surname as a fact of life, as irrevocable as an act of God, however much the individual may have liked or disliked the surname, they were stuck with it, and people rarely changed them by personal choice. A more common form of variation was in fact involuntary, when an official change was made, in other words, a clerical error. Among the humbler classes of European society, and especially among illiterate people, individuals were willing to accept the mistakes of officials, clerks and priests as officially bestowing a new version of their surname, just as they had meekly accepted the surname they had been born with. In North America, the linguistic problems confronting immigration officials at Ellis Island in the 19th century were legendary as a prolific source of Anglicization. Other records of the name mention ARDLEYE (without surname) who was recorded in 1185, County Kent, and Thomas Ardley was documented in County Yorkshire in 1300. Thomas Ardley of Yorkshire was listed in the Yorkkshire Poll Tax of 1379.

The associated arms are recorded in Sir Bernard Burkes General Armory.